Dynamic identification and correction of defective pixels
First Claim
1. A method of distinguishing high quality elements from potentially defective elements in an array of photo-sensitive elements while illuminated with an object field of varying light intensity thereacross, comprising:
- calculating difference values between outputs of individual ones of the elements and neighboring elements, if the difference values for a given one of the individual elements have different signs, identifying the given element to be of high quality, and if the difference values for the given element have the same signs, identifying the given element to be potentially defective.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Rather than storing a table within a digital camera or other optical device of defective pixels within its image sensor, defective pixels are dynamically identified by comparing the output values of individual pixels under test with those of neighboring pixels. If the neighbors are all above or below the pixel under test by a defined threshold amount, the output of the pixel under test is replaced with a value calculated from the outputs of neighboring pixels.
126 Citations
5 Claims
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1. A method of distinguishing high quality elements from potentially defective elements in an array of photo-sensitive elements while illuminated with an object field of varying light intensity thereacross, comprising:
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calculating difference values between outputs of individual ones of the elements and neighboring elements, if the difference values for a given one of the individual elements have different signs, identifying the given element to be of high quality, and if the difference values for the given element have the same signs, identifying the given element to be potentially defective.
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2. A method of identifying and correcting defective ones of an array of photo-sensitive pixels, comprising:
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directing an object field of varying light intensity across the array, calculating difference values between outputs of individual ones of the pixels and a plurality of neighboring pixels, if the difference values for a given one of the pixels have different signs, utilizing the output of the given pixel for data of the object field, if the difference values for the given pixel have the same sign, determining whether the difference values are in excess of a threshold, if the difference values are not in excess of the threshold, utilizing the output of the given pixel for data of the object field, and if the difference values are in excess of the threshold, calculating a value of the given pixel from at least some of the neighboring pixels and utilizing the calculated pixel value in data of the object field. - View Dependent Claims (3, 4, 5)
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Specification